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MWC ’18, Day 1: Hot topics from the show

by

Theresa Bui

In recent years, the front page headlines on the first day at Mobile World Congress have tended to focus on smartphone launch news, and this year was no exception. In terms of story volume, however, 5G is the clear leader with network equipment vendors across the board highlighting their credentials in the space and focusing on the spectrum advantages, radio equipment and architecture to support 5G services. Cisco grabbed a few headlines of its own announcing the availability of its 5G Now portfolio.

Much of the focus at trade shows like MWC is around the potential of future technologies, and 5G fits squarely into that bracket. While the likes of AT&T and Verizon have said they expect to roll out the technology this year, we’re still some time away from seeing 5G chipsets in those MWC headline grabbing smartphones.

Focusing on the here and now, the story on everyone’s lips at the show is undoubtedly the accelerating growth of IoT. On the subject of chipsets, at MWC Qualcomm announced that its revenues from IoT alone for 2017 exceeded $1 billion. The firm is shipping 1 million IoT chipsets every day, with its chips installed in 1.5 billion devices globally. When 5G does arrive, we’re going to see that already stratospheric figure skyrocket. Cisco expects to see 27 billion connected devices on service provider networks by 2021.

The vast majority of those devices are not going to be smartphones of course. A visitor wandering the halls at the Fira Gran Via would quickly appreciate that mobility comes in all shapes and sizes. Some of the more eye-catching devices on display are the wide variety of connected vehicles.

In Hall 4, home to Innovation City where Cisco IoT is located, AT&T is demonstrating the capabilities of a fully connected BMW 7 Series alongside a similarly connected Caterpillar bulldozer. In fact, Caterpillar is announcing at the show that it is using AT&T services to connect and manage heavy machines and engines around the globe as part of a new multi-year, global deal.

If you don’t get a chance to visit Hall 4, check out this video where Caterpiller’s general manager of Innovation & Technology Development Division, Mak Mirahkimi talks viewers through the story. No prizes for guessing whose Control Center platform the service provider is using.

Also in Hall 4 Turkcell is announcing the launch of Kopilot, a new connected car service, Visa is showing off a white Bentley, while Expway is demonstrating its new first responder vehicle service on two BMW motorcycles. And that’s just Hall 4.

It is no coincidence that alongside all the operators, network equipment vendors, handset companies and software providers, Formula 1 is exhibiting for the first time. MWC is so much more than a phone show.

Over the course of the next four days, be sure to take a walk around the halls yourself if you’re lucky enough to be at the show. If you’re not, keep an eye on this blog where we’ll bring you an overview of our announcements from the show, as well as a round-up of some of the exciting stories that caught our eye throughout the week.